Unlimited Opinions - Philosophy, Theology, Linguistics, & More

The incredible urge to have everybody share everything with you, just as Friedrich Engels shared his wealth to keep Marx and his family alive while he refused to work and instead wrote books on the evils of capitalism! In this episode, we look at our absolute favorite thinker, Karl Marx! Surprisingly, we end up defending him quite a bit, particularly by looking at the evils of unregulated capitali...

The culture war! This topic may have been as familiar to Alexis de Tocqueville in 1830 as it is to us today. What makes for a stable government, and how do the morals and values of the citizens impact the success of a country? This is one of the central questions of Tocqueville's two volume work Democracy in America , and we discuss this work and much more in this episode! Join us as we compa...

Lyndon B Johnson declared war on poverty, and the poor lost! In this episode, we look at the ideas of three major utilitarian thinkers: Jeremy Bentham, his secretary James Stuart Mill, and his son John Stuart Mill. In the midst of learning new degrading terms about American Indians, we look at the principle of utility, the many issues with utilitarianism, and the importance of free speech amidst a...

Can slaves truly be free? How is freedom realized in the modern state? Is the entire continent of Africa completely irrelevant to world history? All these questions and more are answered by Hegel! Join us as we discuss Hegel's theories by examining Alan Ryan's summaries of  The Phenomenology of Spirit ,  The Philosophy of History , and  The Philosophy of Right . We talk about how freedom...

"We're just gonna own it, and we're gonna start beating people up!" - Mark Bishop, 2022. In this episode, we look at how certain political thinkers responded to the French Revolution, particularly the conservatives Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre, the reformer Thomas Paine, and the proto-socialist Saint-Simon. We discuss how Burke invented the modern idea of revolution and h...

In this episode, we go on rants galore about the federal government and how things have shaped up in ways that the American founders did not intend! We look at Thomas Jefferson and the writing of the Declaration of Independence, James Madison's authorship of the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, and Alexander Hamilton's ideas that were not enshrined in our government. We especially...

Brittney Griner, a deadline on the existence of the Constitution, and whether or not children create language! What do all of those things have in common? Jean-Jacques Rousseau, of course! Join us as we look at Rousseau's interesting (if not a little crazy) theories on the evils of society, education, and the pacts that we make with our governments. We look at his most influential works, part...

These are some authors we really agree with! Join us as we look at the foundational republican thinkers: James Harrington, Algernon Sidney, and Montesquieu. We discuss Harrington's economic-based republicanism of Oceana , with the ability of freeholders to form militias and defend themselves against the government. We also talk about Sidney's aristocracy-based popular republic, and heavi...

John Locke may just be our favorite political theorist yet! Join us as we cover Locke's political theories, including the peaceful state of nature, religious toleration, and the idea of a very limited government. We discuss in detail our natural rights, how moral foundations are important for any society, when one can engage in a revolution, and whether modern liberal democracies are doomed t...

We give consent to those who govern us, but after that, they can kinda just do whatever they want except kill us. At least, according to the 17th century political theorist Thomas Hobbes! In this episode, we break down all of Hobbes' political theories, particularly how his nominalism relates to politics, the role of the sovereign, the state of human nature, and whether he ever answers the qu...

Machiavelli and nuclear bombs! Those are just two of the many topics we cover on this episode of Unlimited Opinions! We break down who Machiavelli was, the political history of Renaissance Florence, and his The Prince and Discourses on Livy . We discuss whether one can be a truly moral politician, the nature of political families, whether one should caress or crush a population, and much more! We...

As punishment for believing that infants shouldn't be baptized, you should be immediately drowned! At least according to Ulrich Zwingli, that is. In this episode, we look at the Reformation, and how the ideas of Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, and various radicals played into the discussion of church and state in Europe. We discuss the economic roots of the Reformation, how the various wars and u...

Our plans for the immediate future are to write 901 theses on every topic imaginable, with many of them focusing on how much utopias suck and how bad tattoos will look in the future! Along with this, we discuss humanism in the fifteenth century, looking at how various thinkers valued education and classical literature in order to argue for peace and the importance of the common person. We discuss...

"The Catholic Church hierarchy is corrupt." - Dante, Marsilius of Padua, and Mark & Adam Bishop. In this episode, we look at the thoughts of three major figures in the fourteenth century: Dante Alighieri, Marsilius of Padua, and Bartolus of Sassoferrato. The biggest political issue in the fourteenth century was the administrative functioning of the Western Catholic Church. This time...

A half-hour long rant on the role of morals in the government! What else could you ask for from an episode of Unlimited Opinions? Join us as we continue in the Middle Ages, looking at how Aquinas ingeniously combined the pagan philosophy of Aristotle with the increasingly complex faith of Christianity. We talk about the rise of universities in Europe, the question of how divine law interacts with...

We are now the People's Podcast, producing the  REAL  People's Paper! In this episode, aside from our lengthy rants about communism on college campuses, we focus on the wide time period between the writings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. We look primarily at the political role of the church in medieval Western Europe, looking at the relations between church and state, the origi...

St. Paul's letters: a good addition to the Bible or more of an optional editorial? In St. Augustine's eyes, absolutely essential! Join us as we discuss everything there is to know about St. Augustine's political theory. We start with the problem of evil and St. Augustine's temporary solution in Manichaenism, his conversion to Christianity, and the writing of  The City of God ,...

Away from the idealized theories of the Greeks and into the practical wisdom of the Romans! In this episode, we look at two of Rome's most influential authors: Polybius and Cicero. Through Polybius' historical accounts and Cicero's assorted works, we are able to look at the structure of the Roman Republic and how it differed from all previous forms of government. We discuss the idea...

Mark has a change of ideals and has become a Marxist! Join us as we look at Aristotle's political thought in  The Politics , as we look at the teleology of politics. What is the goal of the government, how should we examine the world around us, how do economics affect political stability, and what is the ideal state? We also realize that a random lottery is the best way to pick our political...

Everyone's favorite philosopher who gives no specifics on how to achieve his utopia: Karl Marx! And Plato, too! In this episode, we look at two of Plato's political (or antipolitical) dialogues:  Gorgias and  Republic . We look at the varying definitions of justice, whether it's just to act according to your power, and how Plato's ideal society was structured. We look at all th...

The failures of radical democracy! In this episode, we look at Chapter 1 of Alan Ryan's  On Politics , beginning with the emergence and rule of Athenian radical democracy. We look at the origins of the Greek city-state, the functioning of the Athenian Assembly, the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars, the Trial of Socrates, and more! We also break down why the Athenian democracy ultimately failed...

This is the start to potentially the most rant-filled season of all time! For Season 4, we are reading Alan Ryan's  On Politics , a book discussing the history of political theory from Herodotus to the modern day. In this episode, we discuss the introduction as well as give an introduction for this season as a whole. We discuss the Athenian and Roman degrees of citizenship, how to think about...

The finale to Season 3! We discuss Joseph Campbell's philosophies on God, metaphysics, and ethics, which are all framed in the idea that all people are of the same energy. Join us as we break down whether or not you and the other are truly one, why we have so many different images of God, what it means to live an ethical life, and much, much more! Stay tuned to the end to hear our very real a...

Listeners beware: skip to 11:40 to avoid a very lovely rant! In this episode, we discuss Joseph Campbell's views on love and meaningful relationships. Campbell takes a slight break from mythology and really dives into his philosophies on love, including how the 12th century troubadors transformed the nature of love, the necessity of compassion, and why relationships based on please do not wor...

Listen to the worst mythological joke of all time in this episode of Unlimited Opinions! Join us as we discuss Joseph Campbell's thoughts on the development of the goddess in myths and how this relates to masculine and feminine characteristics, as well as society as a whole. We discuss our own thoughts on gender roles, the importance of a mother and a father, and much more!  Follow us on Twit...